


Moth to Flame

by Wordpainter15



Series: Star-Crossed AU [1]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Doomed Lovers - Freeform, Edric is the best brother, Emperor!Amity, Emperor!Emira, Equal amounts Lumity and Vinira, Exposition story, F/F, Future Fic, Hurt No Comfort, Prequel, Star-Crossed!Au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26866249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wordpainter15/pseuds/Wordpainter15
Summary: Luz used to tell her about how bugs in the human world would die chasing a deadly light. Amity didn’t understand then why something would throw away its life for a light. She understands it now.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney
Series: Star-Crossed AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954648
Comments: 33
Kudos: 155





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: I accidentally out a character death label on when I first posted. No one dies- this isn't a happy ending, but I didn't murder anyone
> 
> The explanation backstory! I was going to focus this solely on Vinira, but Lumity deserves some love and I used my Amity idea on Emira for Homing Pigeon, so you get this instead.
> 
> Luz and Amity are 16 in this (together for about a year) and Emira and Viney are 18 (together for two years)
> 
> Also, posting in two parts because it's getting long and I don't want a 6k one shot.

Luz and Amity sneak kisses in low light. Brisk pecks on the lips in the darkness of the hidden corridor between classes before Luz pulls them back into the general population. Kisses made on stolen class time and they sneak into their lectures with half-formed excuses on their bruised lips. Amity presses her lips against her human’s jaw bone in the shadows of the forest outside of the Owl House, away from that glorified door plate’s obnoxious voice. Luz’s kisses tickle Amity’s fluttering ears when no one is looking when they go to the market. They both push against each other’s mouths in Amity’s secret room at the library where the only light in the glow of Luz’s glyphs that paint Amity’s face yellow and what manages to sneak under the crack in the door. 

Amity is finding that she doesn’t need light anymore when she’s near Luz. Her teeth can find that one spot on Luz’s neck that her fangs can’t help but nibble at. Luz’s thumb always settles against the dimple in Amity’s cheek. Their mouths can always meld the exact same way, no light needed. In the low light, Amity recites Luz’s favorite Azura scene by memory as her girlfriend nuzzles her head into Amity’s shoulder and wraps lazy arms around her waist. In the darkness of their hideout, the light of Luz’s glyphs seem to make their caster glow more than the orbs they summon. Her human’s skin is radiating the warm yellow rim light; eyes sparkle and reflect. With the way the shadows in Amity’s head, the darkness that encroaches on her blissful moments and makes her gut twist with anxiety, recede with Luz’s smile- Amity is starting to think Luz is the one actually glowing. The witch swallows the lump forming in her throat as something clogs it and hugs Luz even tighter.

Amity walks Luz back to the Owl House on the days Luz doesn’t ride Owlbert to their meetings. She knows she shouldn’t worry so much. Luz did survive an encounter with the Emperor. Yet Amity can’t help worrying just a little bit, for Luz is still human and humans just seem… fragile sometimes. They can’t use magic naturally. They don’t have fangs. They seem durable enough, Luz has survived tumbling out of trees and off Owlbert and getting bit by bats. But they only seem able to endure- endure taunts, and insults, and Grometheous itself. They can endure, but they don’t seem to be the best fighters at times. However, Luz has escaped many skirmishes with little more than bruises and a low supply of glyphs. Luz tells her girlfriend not to worry so much. Amity walks her home anyway, just to be sure. Humans may be relatively durable, but Luz is anything but indestructible. 

Luz swings their hands between them, half dragging Amity through the woods and theorizing on how the cliffhanger of the latest Azura book will affect the plot. Amity quickly dismisses the absurd conspiracies, even when Luz pouts at her. She kisses the corner of the human’s mouth in apology.

“It could happen,” Luz insists as she kicks at a fallen pinecone. “It could!” Luz exclaims again at Amity’s doubting hum.

“Yes, swinging a fire spell around in the dark in the midst of enemy territory surrounded by carnivorous monsters is the best idea,” Amity says with a disbelieving look at the human.

“But it could distract the moth bears! I saw something like it in a movie once- they exploded a volcano and all those nasty bugs flew straight into it like _kaboom_!” Luz exclaims and drops Amity’s hand to wiggle her fingers to her sound effect. The human slowly drops her hands at Amity’s raised eyebrows and chuckles awkwardly. “You know,” Luz adds on, “Because moths?”

“Why would a six-foot-wide, flying, highly flammable creature be attracted to _fire_?” Amity asks with a hint of a smile when Luz blanches.

“Six what now… Your moths are _six feet_ wide?” Luz exclaims. “Oh so fluffy, but the insect eyes.” Luz shivers dramatically and ignores Amity’s eye roll at her theatrics. “No me gusta.” Luz pauses for a moment, one hand scratching at her cheek as she turns to Amity. "Wait, so do your moths _not_ fly towards light?”

“No, because they are furry and highly flammable,” Amity reiterates again. “What? Do moths fly into fire in the human world?”

“It’s more that they fly towards any light,” Luz explains as they reach the treeline and the Owl House is only a few paces away. “That’s why people have bug zappers. Moths swarm to them and then die an electrifying death. _Bzzt_!”

“That’s… extremely stupid. Your moths are extremely stupid.”

“They’re dedicated though,” Luz chirps as she sneaks a kiss to that spot behind Amity’s ear that makes the pointed appendage flap happily and makes Amity turn bright red. “I think scientists say that artificial light messes with their navigation or something.”

Luz tries to sneak another kiss to Amity’s ear, but the witch dodges and grabs Luz’s head in her hands. Amity gives her a proper goodbye kiss and accepts the kiss to her cheek before she lets her grip go. The witch watches Luz slip back inside of the Owl House. The witch waves at Eda through the door and ignores the waggled eyebrows she receives back from the owl lady. 

Chasing a light to your death. Amity huffs at the thought. What an idiotic creature.

When Amity gets home, she quickly snaps her eyes shut when she walks in on her sister making out with her girlfriend on the kitchen counter. Viney hears Amity’s entrance before Emira decides to grant her baby sister the attention focused on Viney. Viney shoves the Blight off of her despite the whined out disapproval and grabby hands trying to catch her face. The dual-track witch uses one arm to keep Emira at bay so that she can slide off the counter with no interruptions. Amity dares to open her eyes again when she hears the shuffling stop, one gold eye peeking out from between her squeezed shut lids.

“Sorry, Amity,” Viney apologizes and lightly smacks Emira’s arm when Em mutters an insult at Amity under her breath. “Emmy, be nice.”

“Why must you traumatize me?” Amity asks as she gives Emira and her blushing girlfriend a wide berth on her way to the fridge. “And you know you’re cutting it pretty close.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Emira grumbles as she buries her head into Viney’s shoulder, ears fluttering as Viney reaches back to play with a stand of green hair. 

“I don’t know how you willingly put up with her,” Amity tells Viney as she grabs a bottle out of the fridge and breaks the seal. She rolls her eyes as Emira tries to place a kiss to Viney’s chin and the blind girl expertly moves away from the incoming kiss. “Seriously Emira, they’ll be home anytime now.”

“You heard her, Emmy,” Viney tells her girlfriend. The blind girl shakes her head when Emira depresses her weight, pinning Viney to the counter in an attempt to get her to stay. “Stop being a brat- I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“I don’t care,” Emira mutters. “Unless they choose my partner, they’ll always hate them. So who cares if they know?”

“You’re barely considered an adult, Em,” Viney whispers into Emira’s ear. “Just a little while longer and we’ll both have enough funds to get a place soon.” Viney presses a kiss to Emira’s cheek and pushes the Blight off her gently. “I really should get going. Walk me out?”

Amity is still standing in the kitchen when Emira returns a few minutes later from walking Viney out. Emira pouts as she snags a piece of fruit from the fruit bowl and nibbles at it. Amity settles herself on the stool that had been shoved out of place during her sister’s make-out session and slides herself closer to the counter. She watches her older sister sulk, sipping at her drink, and rolls her eyes when Emira keeps pouting.

“You’re a pest, Mittens.”

“You’d be shoving her out the back door as mother came through the front,” Amity counters and rolls the cap of her drink around the countertop.

“I could’ve had another ten minutes…”

“It’s not about what you want, Em,” Amity reminds as she takes a sip of her drink. “I don’t like hiding Luz either, but it’s not about us. It’s about keeping _them_ away from our parents.”

“I _know_ , Mittens,” Emira whines out around the mushy flesh of the fruit. She wipes the slush off her mouth with her sleeve. “In case you forgot, I’m the one who gave you that speech after sneaking Luz out of the house _and_ covering the hickey she gave you.”

“As if I haven’t covered for you when you sneak out to Viney’s at midnight,” Amity bites back with a slight flush in her cheeks. “Go fix your hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Emira asks and runs her fingers through her loose strands. 

“It’s make out hair. I’m pretty sure everyone would put two and two together if you don’t tidy up,” Amity answers and fingers at her own hair as Emira jerks up and out of her seat. 

Her fingers push through her fading color as Emira thunders up the stairs. Her roots have grown more, and the glares she’s been getting from her mother meant she’s pushing her luck on how long she’s been taking to re-do the dye. She’d have to re-dye it soon… 

Odalia Blight arrives home thirty minutes before dinner is served. She hovers outside each of her children's’ rooms, demanding that they come to the table on time. Odalia’s definition of "on time" meant at least five minutes before she arrives somewhere, so the siblings all fiddle with silverware and murmur to each other as they wait for her to make her entrance. Odalia stares down at her children as she enters the dining room. Edric drops the fork he had been playing with and Amity gets one last reckless kick to Emira’s shin as she wills her blush away. Dumb siblings, always picking on her. The three sit a little straighter as their mother takes her seat next to their father’s empty chair. Amity eyes the vacant seat with trepidation- her father must be running late. The absence of their father means the siblings have to sit back achingly straight as they wait for him to arrive.

“We’ve received notice from Hexside,” Odalia starts the moment Alador steps foot into the dining room. The woman waits for her husband to take his seat before she continues. “The Emperor’s Coven will be holding their auditions next week. With how much rearranging in the ranks they’ve done since Lilith turned traitor to the crown, multiple spots have opened up in the entry ranks.”

“We’re expecting you all to perform well,” Alador adds on.

“We’re expecting at least one of you to live up to your potential and get in,” Odalia snaps and Amity’s muscles tense in a held back flinch. “Understood?”

“Yes, Mother,” the siblings confirm. 

Edric dives into his food once his mother picks up her fork and starts picking at the meal. He glances at Emira and smirks when she rolls her eyes and huffs out a small breath. The female twin winks at her baby sister who’s watching the interaction and they send each other faint matching smiles.

As if any of the Blight children want anything to do with the Emperor’s coven.

… 

“Luz!” Amity calls out as she catches sight of her girlfriend among the pedestrians on her way home from school a few days after news of the auditions hit Hexside. She jogs to catch up with her human, fingers linking with Luz’s as she makes contact. “I haven’t seen you in days! Where have you-”

“Not here,” Luz whispers out as she tugs the witch behind a stall and tugs her close in the cramped space. “Sorry, I’ve been ghosting you, Ami. With the Emperor Coven tryouts, Lilith has kind of banned us from leaving the house so we don’t get arrested.” 

Amity smiles when Luz presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

“Forgiven, I guess,” Amity drawls out and has to force her mouth to not smile at the disgruntled pout that puffs out Luz’s cheeks at her dismissive tone. A giggle spurts out of her lips when the human attacks her mouth again. “Okay, forgiven for sure.”

“Gracias,” Luz chirps and squeezes the witch in her arms. “I really can’t stay out much longer without getting in trouble. Come with me?”

Amity shakes her head no and feels her heart ache when Luz looks at her with large eyes and a pleading lip. The witch drags a hand up and down Luz’s back, trailing the girl’s spine.

“I can’t. With the tryouts coming up, my parents have been breathing down our necks to make sure we’re training.”

Luz stiffens around her and Amity looks up at her girlfriend’s face. Luz’s mouth is pursed in an anxious line, her brows furrowing her eyes. She loosens her grips and takes a small step back to look Amity in the face.

“Amity, you aren’t actually going to audition, are you? I mean… after what they did to Eda,” Luz releases Amity from her arms to hug herself. 

“I’m auditioning so that my parents can’t make a fuss,” Amity explains and nudges Luz’s head gently with her own so their foreheads are pressed together. “We all agreed on this, Luz. Even if any of us do get in, we’d never join them, Luz. Not with Emira so head over heels with Viney and Edric has always stood with us.” Amity pokes Luz in the side and giggles at the startled yelp. “Hey, if I do get in, I’ll just say no and they’ll pick someone else. If that doesn’t work, you can slap one of your fire glyphs on that dumb uniform. That’ll send the message.”

“Promise?” Luz murmurs as she turns her head to nuzzle into Amity’s neck.

“Promise,” Amity echoes back and kisses the girl’s head.


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, no one dies. That og tag was a mess up on my part. I'm not saying this is happy, but I didn't kill anybody off!  
> WARNING: Hastily edited and probably terribly paced. I did not want this turning into 3+ chapters because it easily could

Emira lazily twirls a magic circle around her fingers. Amity is doing her own warm-ups, a small cauldron of abomination goop gaining and losing shape with each movement of her fingers. There’s only a handful of participants, but duels can drag depending on the competitors. Especially when the witches are the top students of their respective tracks. Emira jolts when her scroll buzzes and she glares at her brother when his name appears on the screen.

“Why are you texting me? We’re sitting right next to each other?”

“Just read it,” Edric mutters back and goes back to creating small animal illusions in his hands. Bats, it’s always bats with him.

Emira glares at him a moment longer before she does as she’s told. Her brows furrow before the rush of excitement shakes across her skin. She risks a glance at her parents to see if they were watching her before she stands.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” she declares and ignores her mother’s aggravated hiss as she scrambles over Amity’s legs. “Mittens, come with me.”

“Why do I need to come with you?” Amity asks and almost spills her cauldron when Emira grabs her wrist and yanks her up.

The Blights stumble down the bleachers and Amity struggles against Emira’s hold on her wrist. Em pulls her toward the stables and glances around before shoving her inside.

“This is not the bathroom, Emira!”

“You’ll thank me-”

“Amity!” Luz’s voice floats over them and Amity stumbles as the human throws herself over the stall door onto her girlfriend’s back. “Hello!”

“Luz!” Amity hisses, but it has no bite. The witch wraps her hands around the legs around her waist and hefts her girlfriend up when Luz starts sliding to the ground. Amity looks at Luz over her shoulder, coming nose to nose with the human. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be hiding from the Emperor’s coven! Not walking straight into their auditions.”

“I left something here and I figured it’d be safer to bring someone with me,” Viney pipes up. “Principle Bump warned us to stay out of sight while the coven is here.”

“Lilith says that the coven has really been cracking down on their enforcement lately,” Luz agrees and Amity glances worriedly over her shoulder at the worried tone lacing Luz’s words. “But we also wanted to be here to watch! Well, I would watch and vividly describe to Viney using my awesome storytelling prowess.”

“You shouldn’t be this risky, dove,” Emira scolds slightly and worries her lip with a fang. “This is all for show anyway. We all agreed to throw our matches.”

“My Emmy is giving up a chance to show off?” Viney teases as she pushes her thumbs against Emira’s mouth to stop her from biting her lips.

“How do you do that?” Emira mouths around the thumbs pulling at her lips. “You guys really shouldn’t stick around here…” 

“Because I know you, drama queen,” Viney answers and pulls the lip out from under the gnawing fangs. “That’s a bad habit. And we’ll be fine.”’

Amity makes a disgusted noise from the side and Emira glares at her sister because Amity has no right to scoff with Luz wrapped around her back. Em’s narrowed eyes soften when warm arms wrap around her torso and pull her in. The green-haired witch nuzzles her nose with her sky girl’s, staring adoringly at the freckles dusting her cheeks like stars. 

“I can’t stay,” Emira whispers in her ear and Viney makes a hum of acknowledgment but just drops her weight into Emmy’s arms. “You’re the responsible one between the two of us; you’re supposed to be pushing me out the door.”

“You’re older,” Viney argues.

“By four months.”

“Bathroom breaks aren’t supposed to take this long,” Amity adds in as she struggles to get Luz off of her. “We got to go- we could be called to fight any minute.”

“Go get ‘em, Ami,” Luz cheers at Amity as she unwinds herself from her girlfriend’s body. 

“If it makes you feel better, we’ll wait in the Shortcuts room… But you better have a good story to tell me if we don’t get to watch,” Viney demands playfully as she tugs on Emira’s braid with a smirk. “Not those dumb pranks you’ve been boasting about for a month.”

“You wound me, my sky girl,” Emira whines in mock hurt. “I need one of your healing spells after that betrayal.”

“Stop being gross,” Amity demands and yanks Emira away from Viney. “We gotta go!”

Amity drags them out of the stable. Not easily, dragging Emira away from Viney without the brunette’s assistance is like prying apart two magnets- they always just fly straight back to each other. She smacks her sister’s arm when her lovestruck eyes stay locked on the steeple window where Luz and Viney were watching from afar.

“You’re being obvious,” Amity growls as they make their way around the bleachers. “Keep your head on straight, at least until this is over.”

“Mittens, there hasn’t been anything straight about me since puberty,” Emira remarks as she twirls a curl of hair around her finger. 

“Emira, I am going to-”

“There you two are!” 

Emira and Amity stiffen as their mother hisses at them, Edric following meekly behind with his hands clutching his scroll. He shrugs helplessly at his sisters as their mother grabs her daughters’ shoulders and shoves them toward the arena.

“You two are dueling,” Odalia informs them as an Emperor witch motions them forward.

“What? I’m not fighting Ed!” Emira exclaims as she pulls her shoulder away and takes her spot beside her brother. Amity following her squishes herself on Edric’s opposite side.

“Em, don’t…” Edric mutters worryingly in her ear and grips his sister’s wrist. “We got to.”

“We’re not going to beat each other up!” Emira yells at her brother. “Why are you accepting-”

“She _knows_ ,” Ed hisses lowly in her ear and tightens his grip on her wrist. “She knows that they’re here.”

“What do you _mean_?” Amity whines between them. Her hand shakes as she grips Edric’s sleeve, eyes blown wide in panic as she glances at the hordes of Emperor witches then in the direction of the stables. 

“It means,” Odalia interrupts the three siblings with a low hiss that cuts through them like a lightning spell. Amity jerks and grips Edric tighter. “That you three will compete and two of you will win if you want those criminals of yours to keep their flesh.”

“You can’t do that,” Emira insists, but the cold glare she receives sends a chill down her spine and clogs at her throat. “You can’t!”

“Are they going to compete or should we move on?”

Emira almost bites off her tongue as she slams her jaw shut and it quivers at the force. Edric hand lowers and tangles with hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. The Emperor witch sounds bored, but his face hides behind his mask so Emira can’t really tell. Blood pounds through her ears as Edric makes some sort of joke and drags the two of them to the center of the field. Her titan grip on her twin’s hand is forced apart, but Edric gives her fingers another squeeze and leans in to whisper in her ear.

“Don’t hold back, okay? No hard feelings- do it for them.”

“This isn’t some dumb scrimmage. They want us to duel until someone can’t get back up,” Emira reminds him and scowls when Edric ruffles her hair.

“We can’t concede, but we both know you’re stronger. Just, I don’t know, don’t make me losing to a girl seem easy? Promise?” Edric asks with a smirk. 

“Promise,” Emira answers. “I’m sorry, in advance.”

“Eh, you’ve been kicking me around since you got your magic. We stick together, remember?” Their referee shouts at them to take their places and Ed grins at her. “Ready?”

“No,” Emira answers as she starts walking to the other end of the field. “I’m sorry.”

The two twins lock eyes, hands already glowing as the Emperor witch raises a hand and brings it down in a mighty swing. Tears blur Emira’s vision as she blinds herself with the bright glow of a magic circle.

Amity’s opponent pleads out his yield as her abomination crushes his chest into the dirt. Her magic fades with the referee’s shouts and there’s cheering as her hand is raised into the air. Air rushes into her mouth as the witch tries to erase the bitter taste from her mouth as her opponent is carried away, bruised, and possibly with a broken rib. Probably going to the same infirmary that Edric went to after Emira’s spell flew him out of the arena lines and into the bleachers. Odalia watched as her son was taken by a healer to the infirmary, limping and bleeding at the mouth, before nodding in satisfaction at her daughter. 

Emira bared her fangs around her tears.

Amity blinks as the sound of cheering increases and she sees Emira, cheeks still reflecting the tracks of her silent tears, sidle up beside her. Her big sister grabs Amity’s hand and squeezes. Two other witches are on the other side of the Emperor witch still gripping Amity’s wrist, witches Amity doesn’t know. 

“We welcome these young prodigies to the Emperor’s Coven!” the Emperor witch cheers and the noise of the spectators increases with whistles and chants. “Long live the emperor!”

Amity has to will her hands not curl into fists as her arm is forced into the air. It’s for Luz. It’s for Luz and it’s for Viney. All three of them will burn those damn outfits and then they’ll get out of that dumb mansion. 

…

Edric is on crutches and has his head wrapped in glyphed bandages when Emira sees him next. The teen cries when she wraps her arms around the brother she injured.

“Oh quit your blubbering,” Edric jokes as he feebly pushes Emira’s side. “I’m fine." His voice lowers to a whisper, "Are Viney and Luz-”

“Safe. We think,” Emira answers hastily. “I- we were supposed to meet them in the room but now-”

“I’ll find them. They’re going to want to show you two off. I’ll find them for you.”

“Edric, you can barely walk,” Amity says as she pushes a hand through her hair. “And we can’t… we can’t risk tipping them off. Luz… Luz would be petrified by morning if they find her.”

“I’ll be fine. We stick together, right? Let your big brother handle this, okay? I’ll keep your girls safe,” Ed states proudly and puffs out his feeble chest. “Meet us at the Owl House since I doubt any of us will get our scrolls back and they deserve to hear from you what's going on.”

The three siblings jerk when Odalia calls her daughters to her and Amity hisses low under her breath. Emira pats her brother’s hand and whispers her thanks as she puts that wretched cowl over her shoulders and ignores the heavy weight of the hood and the pointed beak poking her back. The two daughter’s glare at their mother as they are shuffled away from their brother, but Odalia isn’t looking at them.

“You can’t force us to join them,” Emira states boldly as the doors to the estate are flung open. She pushes past her parents and doesn’t even flinch at her father’s huff of disapproval. “I’ll burn this damn uniform while I’m wearing it before I ever join that Titan forsaken coven.”

“And do what, dear daughter?” Odalia asks as her shadow casts over Emira as she stalks into the foyer of the mansion. “Run off with your little mutt?” Her gold eyes turn to Amity and she ignores Emira’s loud, snarling hiss at Odalia's insult of her lover, “And you are only an adult as long as you are accepted into a coven. What are you going to do, little girl? Refusing the Emperor’s coven puts you right back here.”

“I’ll take her with me,” Emira warns and places Amity behind her. “I’m done letting you control my life. Come on, Mittens.”

Emira is halfway out the door, Amity’s feet tripping over themselves as her baby sister tries to keep up. Emira’s fangs are slashing against each other. A permanent hiss has been leaking through her teeth since she put her brother in the infirmary. Hot air escapes her mouth, her anger burning it into steam. She’s done with this. Done with this Titan forsaken family and done with fearing her-

“This is a shame. I’d thought you’d use your coven positions to protect them,” Odalia hums into the air. “Oh well, no one to save them now.”

“What do you mean?” Amity asks and she hates the panic starting to creep into her voice. The younger Blight twists in her sister’s grip to glare at her mother. “We don’t need to be in the coven to protect them.”

“Well, all non-emperor witches have been given curfew tonight. Punishable by arrest,” Odalia states as she unfurls her scroll. An alert is plastered across its surface, bright red and screaming out the alarm call. “Wild witches were reported by an anonymous tip- Only Emperor witches are allowed outside tonight. So unless you would like to get arrested,” Odalia motions back into the house, “Get inside or accept your fate.”

Amity feels her heart stutter in her chest. She feels her jaw shake and clutches her chest. She’s shaking. Her heart beating against her ribcage so fast she was waiting for the bones to fracture. Muscles trembling, Amity looks at her sister. Emira is stiff. Coiled tightly and hands fisted. When her older sister doesn’t move, Amity does. She throws the cursed cowl over her shoulders and pulls its beaked mask over her head.

It’s a collar around her throat. Its binding weight settles around the young witch and Amity blinks away the tears forming in her eyes. She has to do it. She doesn’t have a choice. It's the Emperor’s coven, or its Luz turning into stone at dawn. It’s the Emperor’s coven or being powerless as those damned witched chain Eda down again and she has to hold Luz down as her mother figure is turned to stone. It’s Amity chasing after Luz, or some unknown witch looking for her light’s head or her submission. Amity isn’t letting that happen. She refuses to let anyone smother out Luz's light.

“What are you doing?” Emira asks as Amity drops her hands from the beaked hood.

“I don’t have a choice, Em. Viney might get away with joining a coven, but Luz won’t. I- I’m not letting them kill her.”

Amity watches through the holes in her mask as her words settle into Emira. She closes them when she sees Emira slump in defeat. The sound of fabric shuffling is heard as Emira drops her own mask over her face. Amity keeps her eyes trained on the ground as they storm out of the estate. She understands humanity's moths now. They'll chase after their lights even if it kills them. 

Amity decides that she's not going to re-dye her hair.

…

Edric grips Viney’s waist in a vice, Luz clutching his back with a troubling force as the blind witch swirls through the trees. Jerbo and Barcus running beneath them. No one knew who ratted them out (Edric knows deep in his gut, but he wants to think his parents had some good in them). Boneborough typically preferred to turn the other cheek to the Emperor’s barely enforced wild magic laws, not when only witches were extremely targeted by it. They didn’t care if a few teen witches used spells meant only for one coven. But the alert blared across every crystal ball in the square as they were helping Edric hobble to the Owl House. Luz gripped both of them and dragged them into the closet alley, staring at the faces on the glass. Luz, Viney, Barcus, and Jerbo. All the multi-track kids at Hexside. Luz had set off toward Barcus’ house, Edric hid out in the forest as Viney called Puddles and went to collect Jerbo. Now all five of them are trying to beat the Emperor’s Coven to the Owl House.

“You don’t need to be here,” Viney tells Edric as the Owl House starts to come into view. “They aren’t after you. You’re track focused.”

“Hey, I told my sisters I’d keep you two out of trouble until they could burn those dumb outfits. We’ll all be outlaw owls now!” Edric jokes to try to ease the stiffness in Viney’s shoulders. “This is like the most interesting thing to happen in my entire life!”

“How do we know that for sure?” Jerbo yells from the ground. 

“Hey,” Edric starts defensively. “My sisters would _never_ join the coven hunting you guys.”

The five teenagers burst into the Owl House’s clearing where Lilth has staff in hand, weak spells keeping the horde of Emperor witches at bay. Jerbo’s plant abomination pushes through a few of the witches, sending them flying before the teen yelps when he realizes what he’s doing and the abomination slumps to the ground as a puddle of mud. Barcus isn’t as fearful, a potion in mouth that he flings at the ground at the Emperor witches’ feet. It bursts into flames and screaming fills the air as the witches flee the flames licking up their legs. 

“Everyone inside!” Eda demands and slams the door shut once everyone gets in. “What in the Titan’s name is going on?”

“Our parents,” Edric gasps out from where Puddles is crushing him from the crash landing. “They must’ve called this in when Amity and Emira said they’d refuse to join the Emperor’s coven.”

“Where are they?” Luz asks nervously as Hooty bashes through the witches trying to get through the door like a battering ram. She saves the sounds of his cheerful taunting for his nightmare as she presses her face to the window. 

“We gotta get out of here soon, kid,” Eda warns as she watches the brawl outside. “Hooty can’t fight this many off forever.”

“We can’t leave Amity here!”

“Or Emmy!” Viney adds as she settles Puddles into the corner of the room, her stress causing the griffin to pluck at its feathers anxiously.

“We’re going to have to,” Eda mutters darkly as she pulls herself away from the window to settle her gaze on the teenage witches. “Because they just showed up outside in Emperor gear and Hooty’s getting outnumbered. Magic brats, Liliths gonna show you the beast spell we use to move this place.”

“No… no! Emmy wouldn’t do that!” Viney hisses and marches toward the door. She pries Jerbo off her and slams the door open, it thumps as Hooty’s tube body bounces off the wall. “Emmy!”

There’s no way that her Emmy joined that cursed coven. Not after her sister’s girlfriend fought off the Emperor to save Eda two years ago. Not after dating a dual-track witch for two years and counting. Not after she pulled Viney into her arms the day Viney told her she would go covenless and whispered that she loved Viney into her ear. She won’t believe it until she hears it-

“Viney!” Emira’s voice makes her girlfriend’s ears perk. “You guys have to surrender yourselves!”

Viney’s ears droop, flatten to the sides of her head, and her heart shatters in her chest. She doesn’t process the next words Emira says, but the heat of a fire spell burns past her face soon after. Her eyes burn from the sudden light. 

“What are you doing?” Edric yells out the door as he pushes past Viney to glare at his sisters. “Are you two possessed? We said no to this! We’re supposed to stick together!”

“I’ve been working towards this my entire life. It's not our fault you didn't get in,” Amity states firmly as Emperor witches take up positions on either side of her. “Surrender. You aren’t safe like this!”

Luz starts spitting out words next to Viney; none that the blind witch can understand. Viney ignores Luz sharp yelling and lets herself get pulled back into the Owl House. Jerbo is the one to place her at Puddles’ side where Lilith and Barcus are starting the beast spell that’ll give Hooty the strength to move. She adds her own magic to the glowing circle and pretends it's the light of the spell that makes her eyes cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They come back for Willow and Gus when Willow calls Eda's crystal ball and yells at Luz for leaving them there (with parental approval)
> 
> Also, Luz and Viney automatically go to betrayal because when you're getting persecuted with your friends and your girlfriends promised everything would be okay and then show up with the people that are hunting you down and throw spells in your face- emotions are high and rational thinking is out the window. Amity and Emira can't say anything to tip the coven off because they will get thrown in jail for treason


End file.
